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BRITISH CHRISTIANS 



IN RELATION TO THE 

STRUGGLE in AMERICA ; 

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF 

A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED IN 

MORICE SQUARE BAPTIST CHAPEL, 

devonport, 

On the Evening of Lord's Day, 7th June, 1863, 

BY 

THE REV. JOHN STOCK. 

LONDON : 

ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
MANCHESTER : 
UNION AND EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, 51, PICCADILLY. 

DEVONPORT AND PLYMOUTH : 
HEYDON AND SON. 

PRICE THREEPENCE. 



•••> 



W*Q rTTTTTTTTTT'i 



THE DUTIES 

OP 

BRITISH CHRISTIANS 

IN RELATION TO THE 

STRUGGLE in AMERICA ; 

BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF 

A DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED IN 

JIORICE SQUARE BAPTIST CHAPEL, 

DE VONPOET, 

Ox the Evening of Lord's Day, 7th Jcxe, 186% 

BY / 

THE REV. JOHN ' STOCK, 
fublbbcb b\) Stjqnjcst, anb foxtlj gUMlionat foie*«> 

LONDON: \A 
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
MANCHESTER : 
UNION AND EMANCIPATION SOCIETY, 51, PICCADILLY. 

DEYONPORT AND PLYMOUTH : 
HEYDON AND SON. 



PRICE THREEPENCE. 



TO THE 

CHRISTIANS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 
AND OF 

THE STATES OF AMERICA, FEDERAL AND CONFEDERATE, 
THIS DISCOURSE IS BY THE AUTHOR MOST 
AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY 
DEDICATED, 



Many people, doubtless, will think this a strange discourse for 
delivery in the house of God, and on the Lord's Day. So thinks the 
writer ; but we live in eventful times, which require a temporary 
abandonment of our old straight-laced notions of meeting-house 
proprieties. The Author of this address never delivered such a one 
before, on such an occasion and in such a place ; and, most probably, 
will never do so again. What he has done he does not regret, but is 
prepared to take all consequences. For his justification he appeals to 
his con science, to his deep conviction of the urgency of the crisis, and 
to the Great Searcher of Hearts, beneath the shadow of whose presence 
and throne he has endeavoured to write these thoughts. 

It ought to be stated that all the notes, and some of the most 
purely political parts of the information contained in the body of the 
discourse, have been added since its delivery. This announcement 
jnay lessen the severity of the strictures of some* of my critics. 

J. S. 



THE 



DUTIES OF BRITISH CHRISTIANS, 



IN RELATION TO THE 



STRUGGLE IN AMERICA. 



Exodus xxi. 16— And lie that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be- 
found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. 

Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. — Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant -who 
is escaped from his master unto thee : he shall dwell "with thee, even among 
you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him. 
best : thou shalt not oppress him. 

Heb. xiii. 3. — Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them. 

We have felt it right to devote the service of this evening* 
to the utterance of our thoughts on the Duties of British 
Christians in relation to the fearful struggle now going on 
in America. Sucli a subject is assuredly not beneath the 
dignity of the pulpit. A right state of public sentiment on 
this question must be productive of important results to the 
cause of truth and righteousness. We approach our theme 
with earnest prayer that not a word may escape our lips 
that shall be incompatible with the hallowed associations 
that surround the sacred desk. 

I. — And in the first place we shall prove, that Slavery is the 
cause of the present contest. 

For the last fifty years there has been a growing struggle 
between the Slave and the Free States of America for 



supremacy. The American constitution was from the first 
utterly opposed to slavery. The Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, issued on July 4th, 1776, asserted — "We hold these 
truths to be self-evident : that all men are created equal ; 
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalien- 
able rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
suit of happiness."* The preamble to the constitution says, 
*' These are to form a more perfect union, establish justice, 
insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of 
liberty." The amendments to the constitution contain these 
words : " No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or 
property, without due process of law ;" instead of, as pro- 
posed by Virginia, " No f reeman.' 1 ' The constitution does 
not contain the words slave, slavery, and slaveholding ; it 
does not give the least sanction, direct or indirect, expressed 
or implied, to slavery. It simply passed it over for the 
present, leaving it for settlement to a subsequent period. 

The ordinance of 1787, carried by the unanimous vote of 
all the States, about four years after this country had recog- 
nized their independence, declares this to be its purpose : 
For "extending the fundamental principles of civil and 
religious liberty ; to fix and establish those principles as the 
basis of ail laws, constitutions, and governments which for 
ever thereafter should be formed in the said territory (that 
is, unoccupied Union territory lying be} T ond the existing 
organized States). One of the articles of " Compact between 
the original States and the people and States of those terri- 
tories, to remain for ever unalterable, unless by common 
consent," provides that " neither slavery nor involuntary 
servitude shall exist in the territory, otherwise than as the 
punishment of crime" 

Such was the constitution of the States as finally fixed 
after the recognition of their national existence by this 
country. But this arrangement, which forbad the addition 
of any more Slave States to those already existing has been 
gradually set aside by the growing slave power in the 
Union. Six new Slave States have been added in defiance 
of the constitution. For fifty years the slavery party has 
been the dominant faction in the country, has generally 

* Hist, of United States : Bancroft ana Botta, vol. ii., p. 212. 



7 



elected its Presidents, and secured majorities in its Senate 
and Congress. Slavery felt that, to preserve the States 
already held in its grasp it must acquire fresh territories. 
New Free States were springing up on every hand, and to 
neutralize these it was found necessary to create an equal 
number of additional Slave States, contrary to the provi- 
sions of the constitution.* 

To check the growing slave power the Liberty Party was 
formed rather more than 20 years back. The motto of this 
party was, " Equal rights and fair wages for all ; and, the 
Union as it should be." This party is now known as the 
Republican Party, the fundamental principle of which is 
the illegality of any further extension of slavery in the 
United States, and the necessity of carrying into effect the 
letter and spirit of the constitution on the whole slavery 
question. The slavery party is called the Democratic. — The 
party of liberty nearly succeeded in the election of President 
in 1856; but in the last election of 1860, it for the first 
iime, carried its candidate ; and Abraham Lincoln, the 
Republican, was elected by a large majority. The principle 
on which he was carried was this, £: That the normal condi- 
tion of all the territories of the United States is that of 
freedom ; that as our Republican fathers, when they had 
abolished slavery in all our national territory ordained that 
no person should be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
without due process of law, it becomes our duty, by legisla- 

* It may seem strange to an English reader that the slaveholders of the- 
United States should have been able to monopolize so long such vast political 
power. But the explanation is in reality easy. The actual holders of slaves are 
in number about 300,000 only. But then every owner has three votes for every 
rive slaves that he possesses, and as the negroes are 41 per cent, of the popula- 
tion in the South, this makes the personal votes of the proprietors of slaves to be 
fearfully powerful. The non-slave holding white people of the South are about 
51 per cent, of the population.— Those of them who possess the franchise are 
almost without an exception, under the influence of the slave-holders ; " the 
mean whites ;" "the white niggers;" " the poor trash ;" are mostly not voters. 
Thus the South is pro-slavery in its voting throughout. It is a compact united 
phalanx, with the security of the "peculiar domestic institution" for its banner. 
With the North it is unfortunately otherwise. They are a divided people. 
The Democrats are a strong body among them, and though the Northern Demo- 
crats are mostly Union men, yet they are pro-slavery Union men. The New 
England States are radical in their anti-slavery views, while New York, Pensyl- 
vania, and some other States take lower and more unworthy ground. Many of 
the rich capitalists in the North have large investments in Southern plantations, 
and are almost as rabid pro-slavery men as the most ferocious Southern planter. 
Thus until the recent disruption the South could command tens of thousands of 
"votes in the divided North, whi'e their own voting on all matters relating to 
slavery was well-nigh unanimous. President Lincoln was surrounded by Northern 
traitors when hs took office. 



8 



lion, wherever such legislation is necessary, to maintain the 
provisions of the constitution against all attempts to violate 
it ; and we deny the authority of Congress, or a territorial 
legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to 
slavery in any territory of the United States." 

And what was the result of the election of the Repub- 
lican, or anti-slavery, candidate in 1860? Did the slavery 
party submit to the majority, thus constitutionally expressed ? 
No ; for they heard in their defeat the knell of slavery all 
over the Union. Before the new Government had come 
into power, they raised the standard of insurrection and 
rebellion ; and Abraham Lincoln took his seat in the Presi- 
dential chair to find the South in arms against his own just 
and constitutional supremacy!* And for what? Let the 
Vice-President of the new Southern slave-holding Con- 
federacy, Mr. Stephens, be heard. He says, — after admitting 
that "African slavery was the immediate cause of the late 
rupture and present revolution," and that the Fathers of the 
old Constitution held that the enslavement of the African 
race was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically 
— " Our new Government is founded upon exactly the oppo- 
site ideas. Its foundations are laid. The corner-stone rests 
upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white 
man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his 
natural and normal condition. The stone which was rejected 
by the first builders is become the chief stone of the corner 
in our new edifice. This is the Lord's doing, and it is mar- 

* Abraham Lincoln was elected President Gth Nov., I860. He had a very large 
majoiity over the sum of the votes given for all his opponents put together. 
.South Carolina seceded 19th Dec, 1300 ; in January, 18G1, .Mississippi, Alabama, 
Florida, and Louisiana followed. Several forts were at the same time seized, 
together with the Federal arsenals at Mobile and Baton Rouge. &c. ; the Navy 
Yard at Pensacola, and the steamer Fulton, besides other vessels. In January 
a cannonade was opened from Secession batteries on the Star of the West, which 
was carrying reinforcements to Fort Sumpter. In the same month there were 
large seizures of Federal property of all kinds ; among the rest the Custom-house 
and Mint at New Orleans, in which latter building 350,000 dollars of public money 
were found and appropriated by the Secessionists. Georgia and Texas followed, 
and in each instance with more or less of seizure of Federal property. On the 
0th Feb., 1831, the Southern Confederacy was formally constituted, with Jeff*. 
Davis for President, and A. H. Stephens as Vice-President. All this while, 
Buchanan, the pro-slavery President, and his Government were still in office, 
for Abraham Lincoln did not take the oath and enter upon his functions until 
March 4th, 18G1. On the 12th April, Fort Sumpter was bombarded by the 
Secessionists, and surrendered on the 13th. Let the reader mark the dates. 
Between the Gth Nov., 1800, and the 4th March, 1801, President Buchanan and 
his Government played into the hands of the South most shamefully. When 
Lincoln was inaugurated, the rebels were prepared to strike at once, while the 
Federal authority was left almost defenceless. 







vellous in our eyes !" Thus do they blaspheme the Holy 
word of God, by making slavery the Messiah, the Christ, of 
their new Confederacy! Such are their own words, and 
such the sentiments in which the statesmen of the South, 
glory. They have raised and unfurled a flag, " in every flap 
of which the world should hear the crack of the whip, the 
clank of chains, and the groans of the negro " — (Dr. Eddy). 
And yet, how common it is for Englishmen, who know 
nothing of the constitutional history of America, to affirm 
that slavery has nothing to do with this conflict. Ka 
American would say that. All parties in that country, 
whether the friends or the enemies of slavery, admit that 
the question at issue is not merely whether the Union shall be 
preserved, but whether slavery shall extend to the St. 
Lawrence or liberty reach to the Rio Grande. Let every 
Briton awake to this conviction. Let not the valour of the 
Southern armies, nor the heroic fame of even a "Stonewall" 

• Jackson, nor their brilliant victories, cause us to lose sight 
of the fact that the South themselves confess that they are 
fighting for a system of which slavery i3 " the chief corner- 
stone" This fact is our justification for departing to-night 
■from the ordinary course of our ministry, and for lifting up 
our voice in the house dedicated to the service of the God of 
love and righteousness, on this deadly strife. Our Master 
knows our motives, and we believe that He will accept the 
service. 

II. — We beg to remind you that Slavery and the Slave trade, 
were English institutions long before the United States becama 
a nation. 

It is really humiliating to hear the way in which some 
English writers and orators express themselves about our 
relation to American slavery. They forget that Washington 
did not found slavery in America. It was an institution 
introduced there by England, the land of a monarchy and 
State church. Slavery is not the offspring of democratical 
institutions.* England planted the deadly IJpas tree on the 

* "While Virginia, by the concession of «i representative government (July 24th, 
1621), was constituted the asylum of liberty, by one of the strange contradictions 
in human affairs, it became the abode of hereditary bondsmen. The unjust, 
wasteful, and unhappy system was fastened upon the rising institutions of 
America, not by the consent of the corporation, nor the desire of the emigrants ; 
but as it was introduced by the mercantile avarice of a foreign nation, so it was 
subsequently riveted by the policy of England, without regard to the interests 

• or the wishes of the colony. "—Uistonj of the United State*; Bancroft and Bottoui 
i} T ol. 1, p. 65, 



10 



wgin soil of North. America. England bequeathed this sad . 
legacy to Washington and his fellow-statesmen, when they 
took the helm of affairs in their own country. Washington 
said, " It is among my first wishes to see some plan adopted 
hj which slavery in this country may be abolished by law.'* 
But he did not live to see that desirable consummation, 
achieved. The difficulty of dealing with the question in 
States where slavery already existed we shall hereafter 
explain. But Washington and his compatriots did make 
the extension of the area of slavery unconstitutional, as we 
Jiave seen. 

The slave trade and slavery were both English institu- 
tions. Let us not forget this undeniable fact in our 
judgment of American politicians. The African slave trade 
was not abolished in this country till 1807, after nearly a 
quarter of a century of agitation, and just 24 years after the 
United States had become an independent nation. Slavery 
in the English colonies was not annihilated until 1838, that 
is, 55 years after the achievement of American independence. 
Our hands have been free from the crime of the slave trade 
only 58 years, and of slavery only 25 years. Wm. Knibb" 
was cautioned by the Secretary of our Baptist Foreign Mis- 
sion, before the Spa Fields meeting, against meddling with 
slavery, lest he should offend the Government, and put an- 
end to our mission in Jamaica.*" Slavery and the slave 
trade ; then, are not the legitimate results of the democratic 
and republican constitution of America, but were both 
British institutions. America had her slavery foisted on 
her by us. Hence it is but a righteous retribution that we 
should share in her afflictions in getting rid of this mon- 
strous evil. Is our trade suffering ? Are many of our mills 
closed ? Let us remember that our country is the author of 
the curse which is the cause of all this mischief. Slavery 
is the producer of the baptism in blood and woe through 
-which America is passing, and we are the parents of her 
slavery ! We have no room for indulgence in a pharisaical 
self-gratulation on the slavery question. In our territories 
we have only been free from this crime 25- years. 

At a recent demons bration in Plymouth, a deservedly 
respected clergyman of the Establishment ascribed the present 

* See Hintoas Life of Kaibb, pp. U2 and W, 



XX 



state of America to the facts that she had neither King nor* 
State Church ! This was certainly an original version of 
this fearful chapter in the history of peoples ! But, assuredly, 
facts "show that America is not where she is now for want 
either of King or State Church, but because of the vile 
slavery which this land, with its Kings and State Church 
founded in that distant region, Free institutions sustain no? 
discredit from the disasters that slavery has entailed. Let 
lis rather humble ourselves before God because this land 
created the difficulty which is convulsing America from one 
end to the other. Let us weep bitter tears over the sins of 
our fathers in this matter ; and let us not forget that oui? 
own repentance has been so tardy and so recent. We have 
no stone to throw at our American brethren over this dark 
struggle. 

III. — The President and his Government have done all thai 
tliey could constitutionally do to put down Slavery. 

Here again we have been often pained at the strain in which 
many of our influential journals have expressed themselves. 
They betray in the first place an utter ignorance of the 
American Constitution ; and, in the second place, a determi- 
nation to put a dark construction upon every act of the 
American government. But what has the American Govern- 
ment done in the direction of putting down slavery, you ask. 
It has honestly carried into effect the laws against the slave 
trade. It has hung Gordon, the carptain of a slave-ship, ast 
& pirate. It has seized and confiscated five vessels fitting 
out in their ports as slavers. The negro republics of Hayti 
and Liberia have been officially recognised by it. It has in- 
vited this country to enter into a treaty with it for the sup- 
pression of the slave trade, and has conceded what the 
South never would have yielded, the long controverted right 
of search. In the district of Columbia, the seat of Govern- 
ment, and under the direct control of Congress, slavery has 
been entirely abolished. The Federal Government is 
pledged to the freedom of the slave to the whole extent of 
its power. Wherever its armies conquer, freedom goes with 
their flag. The slaves in all rebel states have been declared 
free, and when they escape into the Federal lines are cared 
for to the extent of the means available for that purpose* 



12 



Schemes of colonisation for the employment of fugitive 
slaves, who now number 250,000, are in active operation. 
The Federal Government has invited all loyal States to 
emancipate their slaves, and has offered them a sufficient 
pecuniary indemnity for so doing, -which offer some of these 
States haA'e accepted. It has prohibited slavery for ever in 
all Union territory, agreeably with the fundamental law of 
the constitution. 

But some of our people exclaim against the Federal 
Government for not putting down slavery in the loyal states 
by force. This outcry is based upon ignorance of the con- 
stitution of the United States. In all existing States slavery 
is a domestic question, which each State has the constitu- 
tional power of settling for itself. Its own local legislature 
alone can abolish the evil if it already exists. President 
Lincoln has aimed to keep within the limits of the constitu- 
tion in all his acts, and has waited his time to strike at 
slavery as a military necessity. He can deal -with it in no 
other way. The Federal Government has no more to do 
with slavery in the States than it has to do with settling 
the taxation of England. Had Mr. Lincoln aimed his blow 
at slavery merely as a great moral wrong, he would not have 
carried the country with him. The people would have said 
to him, "Keep within the limits of the constitution, Sir, and 
leave domestic questions to the local assemblies." This Mr. 
Lincoln has scrupulously done in all the States which have 
not forfeited the protection of the constitution by rebellion 
against its authority. "Where the constitution has been re- 
spected by a State, Mr. Lincoln has not interfered with its 
constitutional rights on the slavery question; but where the 
-State has violently repudiated the constitution, and put itself 
beyond the pale of its protection, Mr. Lincoln has, after 
due notice, adopted immediate emancipation as a military 
measure. The power 01 self-government is guaranteed to 
every state by the constitution.* This was Washington's 
difficulty in dealing with slavery as he found it existing in 
Lis day, and it is a sufficient reason why the Federal Govern- 

* It was so from the first. In the earliest "Articles of Union between the 
Provinces," each colony retained its jurisdiction entire within its own limits, the 
right of regulating its* internal administration, and an independent sovereignty 
in respect to all its domestic affairs.— History of United States. Bancroft and 
Botta, Vol. IT, p. 143. All subsequent ordinances haye been in harmony with 
this primitive document of 1775. 



is 



ment cannot abolish slavery now in any loyal State. Each 
loyal State must deal with the question for itself. Candidly 
weigh these fact3, and you must admit that the President 
and his Government have done all that they could constitu- 
tionally do to put an end to slavery. When will our 
journalists learn to judge with charity, the doings of that 
much abused, but, I believe, honourable and unselfish patriot, 
President Lincoln? ' Years before that gentleman was 
adopted as the leader of the Republican party he uttered 
these memorable words : " I have always hated slavery, I 
think, as much as any Abolitionist." " Let U3 discard all 
this quibbling about this race, and that race, and the other 
race being inferior, and unite as one people throughout the 
land, until we shall once more stand np declaring that all 
men are created equal." " This is a world of compensa- 
tions, and lie who would be no slave must consent to have 
no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it rot 
themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it." — 
Noble sentiments, truly, and sentiments which Mr. Lincoln 
has never discarded since his elevation to the Presidential 
chair.* 

TV". — Slavery m the South is iv finitely worse than the 
mere prejudice against colour in the North. 

How often are we reminded of the dislike of the North 
to intimate association with the men of negro blood, as if 
this were an abomination equalling in enormity slavery 
itself. Now — God forbid that we should say one word in ex- 
tenuation of the sinfulness of the Northern prejudice against 
colour — separate pews in places of worship, separate tables 
at hotels, separate cars on railways, and separate cabins in 
steamers, for the coloured race, are all opposed to the will 

* The leading members of Mr. Lincoln's government are as orthodox as him- 
self on this question. Hear that much abused man, the Hon. W. H. Seward: 
"The interests of the white race demand the ultimate emancipation of all men. 
Slavery can be limited to its present bounds. It can be ameliorated. It can be. 
and it must be abolished, and you and I must do it," He declares free labour 
and slave labour to be antagonistic systems, and says, "It is an irrepressible con-. 
rlict between opposing and enduring" forces, and it means that the United States 
must and will, suoner~or later, become either entirely a si ive-holding nation, or- 
entirely a free-labour nation '-' The Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury, 
or, as we should call him, Chancellor of the Exchequer, emphatically avows, 
that, "Slavery and oppression must cease, or American liberty must perish." 
In 1S45, this gentleman declared, "There is not a line of the Instrument which^ 
refers to slavery as a m.tional institution to be upheld by national authority." 



14 



of Him who hath made of one blood, all nations to dwell 
together on the face of the earth. The men of the North 
mu/st surmount their foolish and wicked prejudices, and 
having admitted the black man to all the legal and political 
rights of a freeman, they must complete the work by receiv- 
ing him to social equality. Let there be fellowship as well 
as liberty. Meanwhile the man of colour need not distress 
himself about this petty annoyance ; for this partial social 
ostracism is no dishonour to him who suffers it, but is both 
dishonour and sin to the white race which inflicts it. 

But who will dare compare the more discomforts resulting 
from this depraved taste in the North, with the horrors and 
abominations of slavery in the South ? What is slavery ? 
and what kind of a being is a Southern slave ? The 
Southern slave is, according to the slave code, mere pro- 
perty. He is classed with " goods and chattels." He owns 
nothing, not even himself, nor the woman called his wife, 
nor his children. Body, soul, and spirit, he is his master's 
property. It is a crime to teach him to read his Bible for* 
himself. He is driven to the field like a beast of burden, 
and works under constant exposure to the lash. He can. 
legally earn nothing, for all the fruits of his industry belong 1 
to his Hfester. At any time he may be whipped like a brute, 
and if he die3 under the lash his master is sure to escape? 
punishment. Should he prove mutinous, his owner may 
shoot him down without fear of consequences At any time 
he may be sold away from his so-called wife and children, 
and his new owner may marry him to a fresh concubine, and 
this owner again may sell him, and his third purchaser may 
marry him to a third wife, and so on. The wife whom he* 
leaves behind, in each case, may be married in the same way 
to a new husband. Thus the rights and obligations of the 
marriage tie are utterly set aside by slavery. The same 
thing may be said of the parental relation. The slave is & 
mere man-breeding machine for the profit of his master's 
purse ! As to the female slave the case is precisely the 
same. The rights of chastity are unknown to her !* Poor 

* We do not pretend to say that every Southern planter is as bad as the coda 
and system of slavery peimit him to be. Fancy sketches may be drawn of visits! 
to Southern plantations which hide the hideousness of slavery, but the stern, 
fact remains, that the slave, whether man or woman, is the absolute property of 
another. It may be the interest of the master to use his. "niggers " well, but* 



15 



creature ! she has no refuge from lawless lust ! Her master 
may do as lie pleases with her, be she married or single. 
She is his property, as much so as his horse or his pig, and 
has no power of resistance. Masters often sell their own 
children begotten of their slaves, Young girls are raised 
and sold avowedly for the worst of purposes. They are 
exposed on the block, sometimes almost in a state of nudity, 
and any beast of a purchaser may manipulate them as a, 
butcher would an ox. Do you shudder at these abomina- 
tions ? I wonder not at your horror. But Southern slave 
holders, and ministers, and doctors of divinity, will justify, 
by the authority of scripture, the slavery which permits 
these outrages ! My God ! dost thou see and hear these men 
when they thus blaspheme Thy Holy name and word ? 
Arise, and plead Thine own cause ; for they have utterly 
made void Thy law ! Even the code of Moses sentenced the 
man-stealer to death, and forbade the rendition of the fugi- 
tive 'servant to the master whose cruelty had driven him to 
flee : while the Gospel pronounces every man, be he black or 
white, to be our neighbour; bids us love our neighbour as our- 
selves ; give this universal rule, " Whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them ;" and com- 
mands us to " Remember those who are in bonds as bound 
with them." In the Northern or free states of America, 
the black man owns himself, his wife, his children, his earn- 
ings, his talents. The protection of the law and of the 
constitution is afforded him. Education is provided 
for him. He may amass wealth in the exercise of 
his peaceful industry. In short, in the eye of the 
law and of the constitution, he is a free man, and stands 
upon a level with his white neighbour. The prejudice 
against colour, however foolish and iniquitous it may be, 
does not affect his legal or constitutional rights. And yefc 
how many Englishmen speak of the condition of the black 

alas, such considerations are a fearfully weak barrier against cruelty, oppres- 
sion, rage, and lust ! The history of the human race since the fall proves that 
a true regard to self interest has little power in arresting the tempest of passion, 
especially where unlimited license and favourable opportunities exist. The 
sting of slavery is in the tact that it leaves the happiuess and virtue of the black 
man and woman at the mercy and caprice of the white owner. Besides, the 
kindest owner of " property" in negroes may become embarrassed : and may be 
compelled to "sell:" and then kind owners die as other men do, and may be 
succeeded in the ownership of their slaves by devils incarnate. The system is 
loathsome and fiendish, however moral and virtuous some planters may be in. 
other respects. 



lG 



man in the South, as preferable to that of the black man in 
the North. Such effusions are the offspring of ignorance' 
and prejudice. They are as untruthful as any statement can 
be. The black man's freedom in the North, spite of 
Northern prejudices against colour, is as Heaven when com- 
pared with hell, if contrasted with the state of the slave in 
the South. Let us have no subterfuges here, but let the 
issue be clearly understood. Let not a false taste be put in 
the same category of abominations with a system which is. 
the very incarnation of lust, of cruelty, and of injustice ; 
which supercedes every righteous law, both human and 
divine in its treatment of the negro race ; and which, in 
short, is the foulest spawn of the bottomless pit,* 

Y. — The Federal Government lias given throughout this-- 

* Mr. Roebuck's strong asseverations as to the manner in which coloured peo- 
ple are treated in the Northern Slates have brought several replies, but the most 
conclusive is .that of a -well-known negro, Mr. Sella Martin. The Daily News, 
which publishes the document, says: — "He has had experience both of North 
and South. He was owned for a time by a pious praying master, whose moral 
sensibilities he one day shocked by escaping, and whose letter to the fugitive on 
the enormity of the crime of stealing himself from his master we published a 
few months ago. He has since paid between three and four hundred pounds in 
coin to ransom his female relations from the same master." It must be admitted 
that such a witness is at least as worthy of notice as Mr. Roebuck. He gives, 
many facts to show that coloured people are treated respectfully in the majority 
of the Northern States. He says: — "The North, in getting rid of slavery, 
initiated a line of policy that soon got rid of slave laws ; and although in many 
of its cities the coloured child is denied the right of being taught in the same 
school-house, still separate schools have been established for them at the expense 
of the State. In many of the Northern States the coloured children are taught 
in the same schools, and in none of than are they denied education at the expense- 
of the State. In most of the Not them States the coloured man has a vote, and in 
nearly all of them the right to testify, to sue and be sued." But Mr. Martin meets 
Mr. Roebuck on other ground than that of fact. lie contends in a thoroughly 
manly spirit for his birthright, not as a coloured man to be well treated, but as 
a man to be fiee. "I had rather take my chances with Northern hate, that 
coldly lets me alone to the possession of my wife and children, even though it 
be in poverty and proscription, than with Southern affection, which, like a bear 
in its embraces, would squeeze all the breath of manhood out of me. I had 
rather have my dinner denied me than my wife taken from me ; and f am sure 
th it even the dehumanising influence of slavery has not extinguished all affec- 
tion so complete y in the case of the majority of slaves as to make them willingly 
bargain away their manhood for a mess of pottage." In conclusion he says : " 1 
am as severe a judge against Northern injustice, when I see it in individual 
cases, as any one need to be ; but I wish to say, in closing these remarks, that if 
the Non his unjust, it is so against the spirit of its laws and the protests of many of 
its people, while the laws of the South compel it to be unjust Avith the imauimous- 
consent of its inhabitants." 'Ibis is the pith of the discussion, though Mr. Roe- 
buck altogether misses it in the ardour of his partisanship. — Liverpool Dai'y Post, 
June 4th, ISf 3. — The testimony of that enlightened 'African, Frederick Douglas, 
a fugitive slave residing in the North, corroborates the evidence of Mr. Sella 
Martin in each particular. The author has found every escaped bondman with 
whom he has conversed ready to witness to the same effect. J n fact the negroes 
of America daily pi ay for "the good President," and the success of his govern- 
ment. These are stubborn facts. 



17 



struggle proof s of its anxiety to cutiv ate friendly relations ivi tit 
this country. 

It has conceded, as we have seen, what the slave power 
never would have yielded, the right of search ; thus settling 
a question which had often endangered peaceful relations 
between the two countries. It repudiated the conduct of 
Commander Wilkes in the Trent affair, and the decision to 
do so had already been taken by the American Government 
before the arrival of our demands. While the Confederates 
boast of their ability to starve our operatives by the failure 
of the supply of their cotton ; the people of the North fit 
out splendid ships to send thousands of pounds worth of 
food to the men of Lancashire. Thus they requite us for 
permitting Alabamas and Floridas to be built and fitted out 
in British ports, to be manned by British seamen, and to 
leave our shores to prey upon their peaceful commerce. 
May God remember them in their affliction for having re- 
turned us good for evil. Yerily they have heaped coals of 
fire on our heads ! And yet there is on the part of many 
of our countrymen an evident set purpose to misrepre- 
sent even the kind acts of the Northern people towards our- 
selves. Such acts are called by them cant and hypocrisy. 
The very good of these people is evil spoken of. No allow- 
ance is made for the excited state of the American people ; 
none for the difficulties which arise to the Federal Govern- 
ment from the embarrassing zeal of its traitorous servants 
with strong Southern proclivities. Many men in the service 
of the North are the secret friends of the South, and would 
rejoice to be the means of embroiling this country with the 
Federal Government, as sure to lead to the disruption of the 
Union, and the independence of the South. When Mr. 
Lincoln first took office, he was surrounded with such traitors, 
nor have the high places of the land been yet thoroughly 
cleansed from these secret enemies. Many of our orators 
and journalists take no account of these facts. Their voca- 
tion seems to be to intensify the hatred of this country to 
every thing that is American; and to alienate the two 
kindred races beyond the possibility of reconciliation. God 
grant to all our writers, and preachers, and statesmen, in 
dealing with the Northern Government, more of that charity 
which thinkefh no evil,rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth 
in the truth, 



18 



VI. — The difficulties of the Federal Government are aggra- 
vated by emigrants, especially from Ireland. 

Many of these men hate the blacks more than the native 
Americans do. The reason is obvious. They do not wish, 
thousands of free negroes to come into the labour markets 
of the North to compete with themselves. In many in- 
stances they have been the leaders in riots against the 
employment of liberated slaves either as soldiers, or as 
labourers in the Northern cities. They wish to keep the 
price of labour up, and the wholesale employment of Afri- 
cans would bring it down. Hence their furious opposition to 
emancipation. 

Besides, the Irish emigrants are generally animated with 
a most deadly hatred to this country, and would exult, beyond 
measure, in seeing America and England at war with each 
other. I need not quote from their inflammatory speeches 
or placards. They are reported in our own newspapers, and 
you are familiar with their spiteful and vindictive tone. 
These renegade subjects of our own beloved Queen (may 
God long spare and abundantly bless her) are the bane of 
America's peaceful relations with ourselves. Let us then 
exercise a generous forbearance towards a people who have 
received into their midst such firebrands from our shores. 
Our own population are ministering to their difficulties in 
the way of preserving amity and concord with ourselves. 
President Lincoln may point to our degenerate sons, and 
say — " You sent me these to agitate our cities with demon- 
strations hostile to your own country : bear with me if in 
this hour of trial such fiery spirits from your own shores 
should goad my people into the utterance of sentiments not 
over complimentary to yourselves. Keep your own Irish at 
home, and take back all you have sent us, and there will 
belittle danger of a rupture between the two countries."* 

VII, — Again, Some of our English journalists profess to be 
surprised, that the Southern Slaves do not escape in larger 
numbers into the North, if their condition he so bad. 

The impression sought to be conveyed is, that the slaves 

* There are many exceptions to the foregoing observations. Some of the Irish inimi- 
-•grants of America are the fast friends of the Negro, have freely spilt their blood in the 
cause of freedom, and entertain a grateful remembrance of the Queen and country that 
they have left. Still we have reason to believe that our strictures arc true with regard 
to the large majority of the class referred to, especially the poorer and more illiterate 
portion of them. 



19 



do not care to escape when they can. This, however, is an 
utter falsehood. Many means have been taken throughout 
the history of American slavery to prevent the escape of 
the slave. Education has been denied him that he may not 
learn to sigh for freedom. He has been carefully and 
jealously watched, and the first indications of insubordination 
have been whipped out of him by the lash. Trained blood- 
hounds are employed to hunt him down should he try to 
escape. The entire police of the South have to assist in the 
catching of the fugitive; while scores of men in each slave 
State get their living by acting as professional "nigger" 
hunters. Yet with all these precautions slaves had escaped 
in sucfy numbers that a few years ago it was deemed necessary 
to pass a Fugitive Slave Law (A.D. 1850), which made it 
compulsory on every state to surrender slaves that should escape 
into it, and to place the State police and prisons at the service of 
the slave-catchers, — one of the most iniquitous pieces of legis- 
lation that the century lias witnessed, but which, thank God, 
the present rebellion has torn to tatters. The passing of this 
vile measure was a testimony to the eagerness of the slave to 
escape when possible. Moreover, since the present war has 
been raging, the Southerners have always marched their 
negroes away from all contiguity to the Northern lines, up 
into the interior of the country to prevent their running away. 
Still, with these precautions, 250,000 of those unhappy 
beings have fled from their Southern masters, and have given 
themselves up to the Federal authorities, since the outbreak 
of the struggle. And yet, men among us with Southern sym- 
pathies ask, with much apparent innocence, why don't the 
elaves try to escape ? 

Besides, remember that were it so that the slave manifested 
no desire to flee from his bondage, this would be one of the 
strongest arguments against the system. For the love of 
freedom is an instinct of the human heart, and unnatural and 
crushing must that institution be, which whips even this 
mighty passion out of a man's nature. That slavery which 
destroys men's natural love of liberty must be the master- 
piece of Satan. But the history of the question proves, that 
the tears and groans of slavery have not utterly extinguished 
the yearnings of the coloured race for liberty in America. 
£hey seize freedom for themselves whenever they can, and, 



20 



have ever done so. The South held four millions and 
upwards of slaves when this war commenced, and these 
millions of our fellow men demand, and must have their 
liberty. We do not pretend to dictate to the statesmen of 
America as to how this needed reform shall take place, if it 
would be unwise to emancipate the whole four millions at 
once, and without any previous education, means must be 
taken for preparing them for their liberty. It will be 
just 80 years on the 3rd of September next, since this 
country made peace with the United States, and acknow- 
ledged them as a people. Daring those SO years America has 
been trading in the bones and sinews of the African race. 
She must now repent of her sin, and return to the path of 
righteousness, in her treatment of her coloured brethren. If 
the blacks are not educated it is the fault of the South, for she 
has made it a criminal act to educate them. She must 
'train them for freedom, and give them their birthright as 
men. The difficulty must be met and mastered. The 
civilisation of the age, the material interests and moral 
grandeur of America, and above all, the honour of our 
common Christianity demand that slavery shall cease. It is 
of no use to evade the question by saying that emancipation 
is impracticable. It always must be practicable to do that 
which is right. " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin 
is a reproach to any people." Slavery abolished, there would 
be no obstacle to the peaceable union of North and South. 
America would once again be one ; and she would be great 
and glorious, because free. No well-wisher to the cause 
of human progress can desire to see America enfeebled 
or divided. She, like ourselves, is one of the main buttresses 
of freedom in the earth. Her strength, when purged of the 
stain of slavery, would be strength to the cause of liberty all 
over the world. She holds our Protestantism; she uses our 
.Bible ; she speaks our language ; she works with us in the 
cause of missions and religion ; her leading institutions, 
excepting her republicanism and her slavery, are identical 
with our own. The world needs us both. With slavery 
.abolished in the States the great hindrance to full unity with 
•this country would be taken out of the way : England and 
America would be rivals only in the arts of peace ; and in the 
spread of liberty and religion would ba the two great bene- 



21 



faclresses of the human race. The cause of Evangelical Christ- 
ianity would receive an impulse greater than any that it has 
enjoyed since the Preformation. Infidelity would be deprived 
of one of its pet arguments. Christ would be honoured : 
God, even our own God, would bless us, and all the ends of 
the earth would fear Him ! 

II. 

We conclude this discourse by a few words of practical 
application, on the duties of British Christians in view of the 
facts that have passed under notice. 

I. — We must recognise in this horrible and fratricidal war 
the hand of a retributive and punitive Providence* The three 
passages which we have road as our text this evening are 
God's protest against American Slavery, and Northern com- 
plicity in the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law. The 
domestic servitude which was tolerated under the code of 
Moses was utterly unlike slavery in the Southern States. 
Man stealing was punishable with death ; and, to keep 
masters from oppressing, the rendition of a runaway servant 
was forbidden. But America has sinned against both law and 
"Gospel by persevering in the maintenance of slavery ; and the 
North has defiled her own purity by submitting to the 
passing of the iniquitous Fugitive Slave Law. Both parties 
are now suffering for their crimes. The moan of the slave 
lias come up into the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth. The 
people who have winked at these abominations, their Maker 
is rebuking in tones of thunder. The fields where the slave 
toiled are being whitened with the bones, and drenched with 
the blood of his white oppressors. The wealth squeezed out 
•of the forced labour of the hapless negro is being squandered 
in the maintenance of tremendous armaments. The people 
who denied to the black man all his legal and natural rights 
are placed under martial law, exposed to a relentless conscrip- 
tion, and ruled with a rod of iron. North and South are 
bleeding at every pore. They are disgorging the wealth 
accumulated during the greater part of a century out of the 
groans and tears of the African race. Verily there is a God 
in the Heavens. The day of reckoning has come to America 



22 



as a nation, and she is being repaid in Wood and death for hesr 
crimes against millions of wretched slaves. Let us bow 
before the majesty of Him who plants His footsteps in the 
sea and rides upon the storm. Let us adore the awful 
Land which is now stretched over that suffering land ; and 
let us pray that her people may clothe themselves in the sack- 
cloth of a genuine repentance, and may reverently hear the 
voice which says to them, u Is not this the fast that I have 
chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy 
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break 
every yoke ? " 

II. — We must seefc to acquire an intensified horror of Ameri- 
can Slavery as it crisis. We need a new baptism in the old 
Anti- Slavery Spirit. Not that the people of this country 
are in the least danger of becoming positively pro -slavery 
in spirit or in sentiment. But we do fear lest the deadly 
hatred of slavery which existed in this nation before this 
struggle should be toned down by the gallantry of the Sou- 
thern armies in the field. Man, the Englishman especially, 
is a great worshipper of courage and of success.* In our 
admiration of the prowess and endurance wherewith a bad 
cause is maintained, we are apt to lose sigdit of the badness 
of the cause itself. Hence our leading journal, a month or 
two back, contained a timid apology for slavery, which how- 
ever the voice of public indignation has since compelled it 
to retract. Hence, too, the little that is said in many news- 
papers, and in the speeches of orators, about the bearing of 
the struggle upon the future of slavery. Men of the land 
of Wilberforce, and Clarkson, and Sturge, and Knibb, and 
B arch ell ! Arouse yourselves from the torpor which has so 
recently come over you with regard to the fearful atrocities 
of slavery ! prove yourselves to be worthy of your descent 
from the founders of liberty for the negro race ! Should this 
address be the means of awakening the old anti-slavery fire 
in any breast, the speaker will have his reward. Some 
parties may say, this is not preaching the gospel j but we 

* On this principle the nation went nearly mid a short time ago in admiration of Tom 
Savers, becauss lie maintained an unequal contest of two hours and a half with a man 
four and a half inches taller than himself. The disgusting and demoralising brutality of 
the prize ring was forgotten while the people burned their incense to the brawny idol of 
the hour. 



23 



affirm that it is. For tlie gospel is a message of gladness 
to the slave all over the world : it is the charter of his 
rights, and the pledge of his ultimate enfranchisement. 
The birth of its Messiah was proclaimed in the strains, 
u Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
towards men." The Saviour Himself opened his commis- 
sion in the Synagogue of Nazareth with the memorable words 
— " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath 
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hatk 
sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to 
the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year 
of the Lord." The New Testament is the slave's gospel, 
declaring to him that it is the office of Jesus Christ to set 
him free, not only by the redemption of his soul, but by 
the destruction of the temporal bondage in which he is held. 
That Gospel we fearlessly proclaim, and believe that God 
will accept the service. 

III. — We must give all possible and lawful encouragement 
to those who in America are straggling for the freedom of tha 
slave. 

The North hath its sins on this question, as well as the 
South. God give them both repentance and forgiveness. 
But every escaped slave, without one exception, will tell you 
that his hope is, under God, in the North. We have not 
forgotten the noble letter of that fine specimen of the African 
race, Frederick Douglas, addressed to the anti-slavery men 
of England. It uttered the universal sentiment of every 
Intelligent negro in the States. It told us that the yearnings 
of the coloured race in America are for the success of the 
North. Material help we may not give to either party ; but 
let us aid the cause of freedom by our generous sympathies 
and fervent prayers. We must see to it — that no more 
JUabamas leave our shores to prey upon the vitals of a 
nation with which we ai»e at peace.* All mere party and 

* Listen Englishmen to our own Regius Professor of History at Oxford, 
Goldwin Smith, on the Alabama question : " No nation ever inflicted upon 
another a more flagant or a more maddening wrong. No nation with English 
blood in its veins had ever borne such a wrong without resentment. The case of 
-the Alabama bore no analogy to the case of s.xle of munitions of Avar. She was 
not likt munition of war exported to the territory of the purchaser. She did 
not go— she was never meant to go — into a Confederate port ; up to this moment 



24 



and political considerations must be laid aside in dealing with 
this great question. The nation must be one in its resolve 
to be free from all complicity in the struggle of the slave 
party in America to spread their fiendish institution all over 
that country. 

War is, we believe, inherently, radically, and essentially, a 
bad thing. It is evil, and only evil, and that continually. 
God forbid, that we should say one word in opposition to 
genuine peace principles. But remember it was the South 
that began this deadly conflict. They raised the standard of 
rebellion against a Government which they had already ren- 
dered almost defenceless. They ordered the raising of 100,000 
men to fight under the flag of revolt. They committed the 
first overt acts of hostility. They seized the Government 
forts, arsenals, dockyards, and vessels. They uiged on the 
bloody fray. As Dr. Eddy, of Philadelphia, says — " The 
Sepoy rebellion in India was not as inexcusable as this war 
waged against the Federal Government by States whose soil^ 
w r e have purchased, whose fire sides we have defended, whose 
debts we have paid, whoso insults we have forgiven, whose 
injuries we have borne, and, alas — God forgive us ! — whose 
slaves wo have caught and returned." War is unquestionably 
from hell, but slavery was devised in the lowest and darkest 
regions of that infernal world. If war be bad, and bad in 
is, slavery is ten thousand times worse : it is the superlative 
of wickedness. " It shames the nether pit." There are four 
millions of slaves in America whose liberty hangs upon the 
issues of this conflict, and though we could weep tears of 
blood over this fratricidal war, yet we must and ever will 
pray that, seeing the strife exists, success may be with those 
who have proclaimed liberty to the captive, and the opening 
of the prison to those that are bound. 

IV. — We must discountenance every tiring that would tend to 
endanger the peace of the two countries. 

England and America were mndc to be one. They are 
mother and daughter. Each may learn much of the other. 
Their proper condition is one of cordial and continuous 

she hail never entered a port in the Confederate territory. Built and equipped 
in a British port, manned by British seamen, with the English flag flying.^ she 
-went forth to cruise from an English port against the commerce of our allies.' - 
— (Meeting at Manchester). 



25 



alliance. A war between these two nations would be the 
heaviest blow to the interests of the world that we have 
yet seen. It would put back the progress of civilisation, and 
liberty, and religion a century. Tyrants and despots would 
exult ; Satan would rejoice ; and the friends of freedom and 
of progress all over the earth would utter one loud aud 
universal wail. This thing must not be ! No, by all that is 
holy, and noble, and good, this thing must not be ! We can 
afford to be longsuffering and forbearing in the present state 
of America. Crippled as she now is, our natural pride could 
not suffer by a magnanimous reticence of spirit even when we 
think we have just cause of complaint. We can honourably 
be patient, God of the nations ! let not these two most 
Christian peoples ever again be embroiled, but in thy good 
.providence preserve their peace and friendship, that they may 
he a growing blessing to this poor suffering world of thine ! 

V. — We must use all our influence to prevent our Govern- 
ment from a premature recognition of the South. 

This would inevitably lead to war between this country 
and the Federal Government ; it would, in fact, under the 
present circumstances, be tantamount to a declaration of war 
on our part. Let us then beware of being hurried by any 
apolitical partisanship into a deed that will be fraught with 
such consequences. War with the free North means alliance 
with the slave-holding South : and, shall anti-slavery England 
ever be found in such a condition ? We plead on behalf of 
four millions of slaves, and on behalf of their descendants 
through coming generations. Let these have to bless our 
nation for standing firm to its anti-slavery creed in this hour 
of trial. We plead for our country's honour and consistency, 
and for the interests of liberty and rightousness in all coming 
time. Oh! that the Eternal God may keep us from the 
least national fellowship with that accursed thing, slavery ! 

VI. — We must cheerfully sustain our own people ivho are. 
■ suffering in consequence of this wicked tear. 

We need to thank the Father of mercies for the grace 
which He has given to our noble operatives in this hour of 
trial. They, at least, have been true to their antf-slavery 
instincts. When they have been urged by agents of the 



26 



slave Confederacy to agitate for the recognition of the South,, 
they have almost unanimously refused. Their answer has 
been, "No ! we will bear being out of employment and all 
the consequences that this entails, but we will never be made 
the tools of the slaveholder. Let slavery be buried in the 
bloody grave of this war, even if v> e have to suffer in the 
process/' I thank God for such men. They are worthy of 
their country, and we may well be grateful for them. May 
the Holy Spirit give them grace to persevere in their stead- 
fastness ! 

But, brethren, England must do her duty to these her 
noble sons. They must be provided for until the crisis is 
over. Let us be thankful that the times are improving in 
Lancashire. Cotton is being obtained in steadily increasing, 
quantities from various sources. The local industry is re- 
viving, and the recipients of relief are becoming fewer evey 
week. Lancashire has seen its worst days in consequence of 
the American struggle ; but, as long as help is needed, the 
country mast give it with a liberal hand and a willing heart. 
Southern statesmen and journalists have affirmed that "Gotton 
is King" but we rejoice that " The Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth," and that " He will defend the cause of the poor." 

VII. — We must daily besiege the throne of grace for th& 
diffusion- of the empire of the Prince of Peace, 

How sad it is that in this nineteenth century since the 
angels sang the song of Bethlehem, the most Christian nations 
on the face of the earth should be so ready to submit their 
differences to the bloody arbitrement of the sword. Let us 
think of our wars, and of the wars of the nations of Europe, 
where the various forms of Christianity are the most observed. 
And now we have the United States torn by the most fearful 
struggle that perhaps the world has ever seen. The first 
human death that took place on our planet was a murder, 
and murder by a brother's hand ! Sad omen this of the his- 
tory of our race ! Fearful prophecy that man would ever be 
the great destroyer of his kind ! But a brighter epoch is to 
dawn upon our darkness. Messiah h to judge among the 
nations by His gospel and His spirit, and the result will be, 
they shall learn war no more ; but shall beat their swords 
into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks { 



27 



Happy day ! let thy light soon dawn upon this war-blasted 
earth ! Father of mercies ! let this millennium of our race 
speedily arrive ! 

We are invited by the friends of peace to make the cessa- 
tion of the struggle in America subject of daily and special 
prayer. In that invitation we cordially join. But let us 
pray that peace may be made on the broad basis of the 
ultimate emancipation of the coloured race ; and that when 
the sword is sheathed the slave may find his shackles gone, 
and the day of freedom come ! Our first prayer must be for 
the destruction of slavery. That horrid system originated 
the strife, and there can be no lasting peace as long as it 
exists. Eternal God! let the jubilee of freedom be pro- 
claimed through our bleeding sister country, and then the- 
clamour of war will soon be silenced, and its thunders die 
away into hymns of joy and thanksgiving. 

VIII. — Let us daily seek io he released from the Slavery of 
sin ourselves, and walk in habitual peace with God and all 
mankind. 

The worst bondage is vassalage to Satan, the world, and 
sin. These fetters all men wear by nature. Has grace broken 
them in our case? Are we the Lord's freed men ? As Eng- 
lishmen, you justly rejoice in being the inhabitants of the 
freest nation in Europe ; but are you released from the chains 
of lust, and worldliness, and unbelief? I charge you, answer 
this question as in God's sight. Those only whom the Lord 
makes free, are free indeed. 

The worst war is that of the human heart against its 
Maker. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is 
not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be." Has 
this enmity been destroyed in your soul? Are you at peace 
with God ? Is your war with heaven at an end ? Have you 
surrendered unconditionally and heartily to Jehovah's mercy 
in Christ Jesus ? Are you a rebel, or an adopted child of 
the Most High ? Let every one who is in arms against the 
Ituler of the Universe hear this proclamation with which He 
sends me once more, to-night, into His enemies' camp : — 
" Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God 
did beseech by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye 
reconciled to God. For He hath made Him who knew no 



23 

ism to be sin for us ; that we might be made the righteousness 
of God in Him." " The blood of Jesus Christ, His son, 
eleanseth us from all sin/' u Believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and ye shall be saved." Amen. 



I, LATIMER, PRINTER, 9, FRANKFORT STREET, PLYMOUTH. 



